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Powered by the sun and hydrogen - pictured here, the Solar-Hydrogen Eco-house, is the first in the world that is fully self-sustainable and runs entirely on hydrogen.

The hydrogen tank is located some distance from the house, and a small diameter pipe connects it to the utility gas line in the house. The gas is used as a domestic heater to provide hot water to a stove or burner, and operate a fuel cell to produce electricity for other appliances.

Besides the obvious eco-friendly solar hydrogen system, the eco-house’s design also incorporates low energy architectural features such as shading, natural ventilation and day-lighting. It also has a rainwater recycling system that is powered by solar energy. This combination makes for a sustainable and environmentally-friendly residential dwelling, helping to reduce air pollution, global warming and acid rain, besides aiding in conserving the world’s depleting fossil fuel.

So the next trick is coming up with a sustainable eco-friendly way of producing hydrogen. A 50% efficient solar-cell would go a long way towards making a solar-hydrogen economy practical. Below is promising research in that direction.

Through the Solar Looking Glass - is about research that resulted in making a cell with efficiencies of way more than 50%. The total cost of this project was only $700,000. Compare that to the current cost of America's occupation of Iraq,

Cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq per month: $4,000,000,000 (source)
Cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq per week: $1,000,000,000
Cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq per day: $142,857,142
Cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq per hour: $5,952,380
Cost of the U.S. occupation of Iraq per minute: $99,206

So think about that for 7 minutes, the same amount of time it took to spend that $700,000. At a cost of just 7 minutes of combat operations, solar cell efficiency was increased to 50%! Just imagine how much more progress could be made if just a day's worth of war expenditures were spent on alternative energy research, rather than fighting to secure more supply of an unsustainable addiction to fossil fuels.

Meanwhile Governor Swarzeneggar has just endorsed some investment towards kick-starting the move to hydrogen fuel transportation infrastructure in, California Rolls Toward Hydrogen.

Posted by paul at April 22, 2004 08:31 AM | TrackBack